WHAT WERE POPULAR FORMS OF BANQUETS, FEASTS, FOOD, AND DRINK IN SHAKESPEARE’S ENGLAND? WHAT WERE POPULAR RECIPES? HOW WERE THESE DIFFERENT IN URBAN/RURAL LIFE? HOW WERE THESE DIFFERENT IN NOBLE/MERCHANT/COMMON LIFE? Answer prepared by: Hannah L
In Elizabethan England, food, recipes, and eating habits all depended on one’s social and economic class. Lower class families ate food less in quantity and quality while the higher-class families dined on extravagant meals with many different varieties of food.
Very few Elizabethans ate breakfast but all of the lower, middle and wealthy families ate dinner. Dinner for the middle class and lower class families was held around eleven o’clock or noon and the wealthy ate their dinner in the evening between six and nine o’clock. Common people had a more simple meal usually consisting of meat, bread, and beer. The middle and lower class dined on one to two different types of meat, usually mutton and pork. Chicken and geese were also common sources of protein. The wealthy families in England ate a lot of meat and usually dined on six to seven different types of meat at each meal. The meats included beef, turkey, swan, venison, goat, rabbit, and deer. All classes also ate fish and poultry because it was cheap and fresh. Bread was also eaten at every meal. The lower class ate barley or rye while the upper class ate brown bread made from wheat flour. Everyone drank beer because it was very inexpensive and available. Also, people did not drink the water because the “smell and look of water was often suspicious to the Elizabethans,” according to Gail Stewart, the author of Life in Elizabethan London. Furthermore, they did not drink milk because “cows did not produce as much milk as they do now so it was not as available,” states Stewart (56).
The way Elizabethans ate was extremely different than how we eat. Before sitting down to eat, the Elizabethans would often spread a white linen cloth over a large table and set out tableware. Utensils were sparse. Each person had a spoon that was usually made of pewter or horn, and that person used that same spoon at every meal. According to Stewart, “Spoons were considered a very personal item and were often given as a present at a child’s christening or birthday. One’s spoon was commonly kept in a leather case between meals,” (62). Knives were also common and they were crucial to have during a meal due to all of the meat in their diets. Many guests brought their own knives to the table because, as Stewart explains, there was a well-known rule of etiquette at the time about “‘having one’s knife in a fit condition to use at a table’” (62). Elizabethans also ate with their fingers because many of them did not own forks. If they did, the forks were used to help cut their meat, not to put in their mouths. More elaborate meals were served at banquets for the wealthy classes. In banquets, there could have been up to ten courses such as venison, mutton, and swan. For dessert, there would have been fruit pies and gelatin.
Recipes in Elizabethan England had many different ingredients. The main ingredients used in food at the time were flour, water, and meat. The women in the household would cook or if the family was rich, a cook would prepare the meal. One very popular meal was pottage, which was made with mutton, water, oats, and spinach. Pie, which was a very common food to eat at parties, was made with all different types of fruit such as cherries, peaches, and apples. Cake was another dessert that was usually seen at parties. Cake was made with flour, cinnamon, and butter. People added in beer too. Spiced beer was incredibly popular in Elizabethan England. Jeffery Singman states in his book Daily Life in Elizabethan England, “This sort of drink was often consumed as part of the festivities of the Christmas season” (147).
Singman goes on to provide the recipe for spiced beer. The original recipe for spiced beer is in italics and the translation is in Times New Roman font below. The real and translated recipes come from Singman’s book, Daily Life in Elizabethan England.
Spiced Beer
“Take three pints of beer, put five yolks of eggs to it, strain them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fire, and put to it half a pound of sugar, one pennyworth of nutmegs beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and draw them together, and set it to the fire again, and when it is ready to boil, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brew them together out of one pot into another.
Add one egg yolk to one pint of beer, and warm. Stir in one-fourth cup of sugar and a pinch of ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger. When it is on the verge of boiling, remove it from the stove, add a spoonful of butter, and stir” (147).
When the Elizabethans ate their meals, different families had different attitudes towards the food they were eating. The higher-class families took their time eating meals and talking to their friends. They enjoyed their meals greatly, savoring every bite. As for the lower class families, meals were just a time to nourish the body with meat, bread, and beer. The experience of dining in the Elizabethan Era was based upon one’s social and economic class, making food and eating a different experience among the wealthy and poor.
This is a drawing of what a banquet looked like in the Elizabethan era.
Answer prepared by: Hannah L
In Elizabethan England, food, recipes, and eating habits all depended on one’s social and economic class. Lower class families ate food less in quantity and quality while the higher-class families dined on extravagant meals with many different varieties of food.
Very few Elizabethans ate breakfast but all of the lower, middle and wealthy families ate dinner. Dinner for the middle class and lower class families was held around eleven o’clock or noon and the wealthy ate their dinner in the evening between six and nine o’clock. Common people had a more simple meal usually consisting of meat, bread, and beer. The middle and lower class dined on one to two different types of meat, usually mutton and pork. Chicken and geese were also common sources of protein. The wealthy families in England ate a lot of meat and usually dined on six to seven different types of meat at each meal. The meats included beef, turkey, swan, venison, goat, rabbit, and deer. All classes also ate fish and poultry because it was cheap and fresh. Bread was also eaten at every meal. The lower class ate barley or rye while the upper class ate brown bread made from wheat flour. Everyone drank beer because it was very inexpensive and available. Also, people did not drink the water because the “smell and look of water was often suspicious to the Elizabethans,” according to Gail Stewart, the author of Life in Elizabethan London. Furthermore, they did not drink milk because “cows did not produce as much milk as they do now so it was not as available,” states Stewart (56).
The way Elizabethans ate was extremely different than how we eat. Before sitting down to eat, the Elizabethans would often spread a white linen cloth over a large table and set out tableware. Utensils were sparse. Each person had a spoon that was usually made of pewter or horn, and that person used that same spoon at every meal. According to Stewart, “Spoons were considered a very personal item and were often given as a present at a child’s christening or birthday. One’s spoon was commonly kept in a leather case between meals,” (62). Knives were also common and they were crucial to have during a meal due to all of the meat in their diets. Many guests brought their own knives to the table because, as Stewart explains, there was a well-known rule of etiquette at the time about “‘having one’s knife in a fit condition to use at a table’” (62). Elizabethans also ate with their fingers because many of them did not own forks. If they did, the forks were used to help cut their meat, not to put in their mouths. More elaborate meals were served at banquets for the wealthy classes. In banquets, there could have been up to ten courses such as venison, mutton, and swan. For dessert, there would have been fruit pies and gelatin.
Recipes in Elizabethan England had many different ingredients. The main ingredients used in food at the time were flour, water, and meat. The women in the household would cook or if the family was rich, a cook would prepare the meal. One very popular meal was pottage, which was made with mutton, water, oats, and spinach. Pie, which was a very common food to eat at parties, was made with all different types of fruit such as cherries, peaches, and apples. Cake was another dessert that was usually seen at parties. Cake was made with flour, cinnamon, and butter. People added in beer too. Spiced beer was incredibly popular in Elizabethan England. Jeffery Singman states in his book Daily Life in Elizabethan England, “This sort of drink was often consumed as part of the festivities of the Christmas season” (147).
Singman goes on to provide the recipe for spiced beer. The original recipe for spiced beer is in italics and the translation is in Times New Roman font below. The real and translated recipes come from Singman’s book, Daily Life in Elizabethan England.
Spiced Beer
“Take three pints of beer, put five yolks of eggs to it, strain them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fire, and put to it half a pound of sugar, one pennyworth of nutmegs beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and draw them together, and set it to the fire again, and when it is ready to boil, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brew them together out of one pot into another.
Add one egg yolk to one pint of beer, and warm. Stir in one-fourth cup of sugar and a pinch of ground nutmeg, ground cloves, and ground ginger. When it is on the verge of boiling, remove it from the stove, add a spoonful of butter, and stir” (147).
When the Elizabethans ate their meals, different families had different attitudes towards the food they were eating. The higher-class families took their time eating meals and talking to their friends. They enjoyed their meals greatly, savoring every bite. As for the lower class families, meals were just a time to nourish the body with meat, bread, and beer. The experience of dining in the Elizabethan Era was based upon one’s social and economic class, making food and eating a different experience among the wealthy and poor.
Click here for a great website that has nearly one hundred Elizabethan recipes. Scroll to the bottom for all of the delicious recipes.
Works Cited
Barter, James. Shakespeare's London. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent
Books, 2003. 45-50. Print.
Ferris, Julie. Shakespeare's London. New York, NY: King Fisher
Publications, 2000. 10-11. Print.
Singman, Jeffrey. Daily Life in Elizabethan England. Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1995. 58-147. Print.
Stewart, Gail. Life in Elizabethan London. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent
Books, 2003. 54-63. Print.